This new Fondation is structured around its production activities and support provided to contemporary creation. The Fondation acts as a catalyser, providing artists unique, made-to-measure conditions in which to produce, experiment and exhibit.
Since its opening on March 10, 2018, Lafayette Anticipations has been the first multidisciplinary centre of its kind in France. In its 19th century building situated in the heart of the Marais and renovated by OMA, Rem Koolhaas’s architecture firm, the public will soon discover a curatorial machine in which new pieces produced by international creators – stemming from the fields of contemporary art, design and fashion – will be presented.
Located in a industrial building of 2,200 m2, the Fondation is a place for creation, innovation and research. The renovation project is led by architect Rem Koolhaas and his firm.
The seven story industrial building, characteristic of the end of the 19th century, is structured in a U-shape around a courtyard. The building can be crossed freely, thus leading to the rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie via a covered passage. The architectural intervention manages to articulate two seemingly contradictory conditions: the desire for programmatic flexibility and the respect of strict and mandatory preservation rules.
An “exhibition tower” equipped with four mobile platforms is inserted into the building’s courtyard. These motorized platforms can move independently along rails and align with the existing floors.
With each exhibit, these innovative platforms will allow the space to be reconfigured in 49 different ways. These multiple arrangements will instil verticality, flexibility and adaptability, as required by numerous future projects. The building will offer 875 m2 of exhibition space. This curatorial machine completes another fundamental component of the Fondation: its production workshop situated in the building’s basement. Here, pieces can be conceived and created by guest artists. The simultaneous use of these two structural features will foster the creation of unique projects, with their own spatial configuration.
Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, 9, rue du Plâtre – 75004 Paris – France.
More informations: https://www.lafayetteanticipations.com
